Inspiring men & women
Now on its 16th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) Philippines recently concluded its 2019 search for the most inspiring entrepreneurs in the country through awarding ceremonies held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
Established in 1986 by Ernst & Young in the US to recognize the most outstanding entrepreneurs all over the world, the EOY has since expanded to other countries including the Philippines, which launched the EOY Philippines program in 2003 through the SGV Foundation.
This year’s finalists came from diverse industries such as agriculture, food, logistics, steel, beauty, real estate, chemical distribution and many others, and emerging as winners in different categories are Rolandrei Viktor Varona (Small Business Entrepreneur), Esther Wileen Go (Woman Entrepreneur), Jose Magsaysay Jr. (Emerging Master Entrepreneur) and Benjamin Yao, who was named Master Entrepreneur and Entrepreaneur of the Year 2019. Yao will represent the Philippines in the World Entrepreneur of the Year awards in Monaco in June 2020.
The other finalists were XRC Mall Developer’s Alexander Cruz, Contempo Property Holdings’ Beverly Dayanan, DTSI Group’s Miguel Garcia, Excelsior Farms’ Alvin Hing, SL Agritech’s Henry Lim Bon Liong, Destileria Limtuaco’s Olivia Limpe-Aw, Oneworld Alliance Logistics’ Sindulfo Sumagang, Regan Industrial Sales’ Regan Sy, SBS Philippines’ Necisto Sytengco and The A-Institute’s Dr. Aivee Aguilar Teo.
The finalists went through a stringent ranking system from a panel of judges composed of Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko and Capital Shares Investment corporation chairman Ambassador Jesus Tambunting who co-chaired the panel, Ramon Monzon of the Philippine Stock Exchange, Rizalina Mantaring of the Management Association of the Philippines, Uratex Group of Companies CEO Natividad Cheng and Philippines Business for Social Progress executive director Reynaldo Laguda.
As US Embassy Charge d’Affaires John Law remarked, “Cultivating a community of small-medium enterprises and entrepreneurship changes people, changes nations for the better.” Law also shared the thoughts of outgoing Ambassador Sung Kim at meeting some of the most amazing people in the course of his posting in the Philippines.
“The ambassador has shared with us many times his thoughts on how blessed he felt to have known tremendous people like Henry Sy, John Aboitiz, Washington SyCip and amazing contributions that these titans of commerce and philanthropy were able to make in their lifetimes and the extraordinary and enduring legacies they have left behind,” Law said.
Echoing this year’s theme of “Disrupt. Transform. Inspire!”, SGV chairman and managing partner and SGV Foundation chairman J. Carlitos “Itos” Cruz emphasized the critical role of disruption and transformation that is happening in business. “Today’s age of transformation has given entrepreneurs vast opportunities for growth; but at the same time, it exposes businesses to various risks and uncertainties. To help us navigate through this era of disruption, we need visionaries who can leverage on new digital platforms and provide people with a clear purpose,” he said. *
